Young, Broke And Adventurous? Here Are 20 Destinations To Travel To In Your 20s

When you are in your 20s the entire world is evolving around you. You are young, beautiful, strong and relatively carefree, which makes you the perfect traveler. Even if you are broke! There is no such thing as the perfect age to travel, but when you are in your 20s you are able to adapt to new situations easier and cope with lack of comfort easier. The high stamina 20-somethings enjoy is another advantage when you are on the road.

Not that when you are older you can’t enjoy traveling, but you are not that happy with the perspective of sharing the room with other 5 backpackers, for example. On the other side, as you become an older adult, you start thinking of building a career, which leaves little room for traveling, unless you are a digital nomad, but this is another topic.

Learn how to travel cheap and take on the world, diving head first into all those epic parties, festivities and amazing personal experiences. Here Are 20 Destinations To Travel To In Your 20s!

1. Amsterdam

Amsterdam is known for the not so legal entertainment, but this is not the reason you should be visiting the city. You need to see Amsterdam on your own for its freedom: the culture and the friendly locals are going to change your perspective on traveling, so it’s a great place to start your adventure.

2. Berlin

Berlin is another European city that oozes coolness, as hipsters and entrepreneurs mix on its streets. Once there, you need to check out the bars of Kreuzberg, explore the city streets admiring the architecture and take bike rides at the abandoned airport. Berlin has a lot more wonders for you to discover, so blend in with the “uber” coolness of Berlin.

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3. Dubrovnik

Located in Croatia, Dubrovnik is one of the cities every 20-something should visit at least once in his or her lifetime. Apart from being one of the locations where Game of Thrones is being filmed, Dubrovnik has an amazing old town where you can take long walks, imagining life in the medieval times. The city has an unique party atmosphere, enhanced by the charm of the Adriatic sea. Before you leave Dubrovnik you need to check the Buza bar, which offers breathtaking views on the sea.

4. Budapest

Often mistaken with Bucharest, Budapest is one of the cool cites of Europe. Divided by the Danube river, Budapest is home to two types of locals: the party people on the Pest and the tourists in Buda. There is also a Jewish part in the city, so you have plenty of things to do and people to meet.

5 Istanbul

If you can’t travel to San Francisco to see the Golden Gate, just make sure you visit Istanbul. The only city which sits on two continents has an amazing bridge over the Bosphorus, which looks very festive in the night. But before diving into the nightlife in Beyoglu, you need to hear the goose-bump inducing call to prayer from the Blue Mosque and take a walk in the Great Bazaar to discover the hidden hideaways, where you can negotiate for every item you buy. Also visit a hammam to relax during a traditional Turkish bath.

6 London

The highly cosmopolitan London is definitely a city to be experienced by a 20-something. When you witness the cultural diversity of the city you really feel like you are feeling the entire world. Check out the Portobello Market for some vintage clothes and don’t get lost in the large London subway.

7 Reykjavik

Reykjavik is surprisingly expensive, but it’s worth the effort to see it. Icelanders are very creative and warm people, so you can learn a lot from them. Visit the island from North to South, East to West, then enter a local pub and order a schnapps, nicknamed the Black Death. You will see why!

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8 Santorini

The island of Santorini is going to imprint a never-fading image in your brain. The white houses and the ancient archaeological sites are complemented by the blue sea, which brings you a one-of-a-kind emotion. There is a party vibe in Santorini, but there is also a welcoming peace, which is going to stick with you for the rest of your life.

9 Barcelona

Barcelona is where you can taste the original tapas, but only after you’ve admired the exceptional architecture of Gaudi. Other places to check out are the Gothic Quarter and the Park Guell, where the lively Spanish culture is visible all around.

10 Hong Kong

Hong Kong offers a lot to the enthusiastic traveler: food, shopping and entertainment. Start by tasting the local dumplings, one of the Chinese specialties you need to try when visiting the city. The place to look for these foods is the cheapest and highest rated in China: Tim Ho Wan. Once your belly is full enjoy the lights in Victoria Harbour and dip into the nightlife of the expat community.

11 Tokyo

If you want to experience something different, go to Tokyo, the mother of all weird things and alternative cultures. Go undercover as your favorite Manga character, toast with sake in the Golden Gai area and have a meal in a toilet restaurant. And these are not the weirdest things you can enjoy in the city…

12 Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura is an amazing city in Sri Lanka, which is also one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites for its amazing history and the ancient ruins. The entire area is breathtaking, with the jungle almost taking over the city. If you travel to the island for the first time, there is a lot to see and do, but you can start by admiring the panoramic view of the sunset on top of the Mihintale.

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13 Tel Aviv

Who would think the party capital of Middle East is Tel Aviv? Well, this is the most unexpected fact you will learn of the city when you visit it. The beautiful beaches provide a great relaxing area after you’ve rocked the parties around the town. To get a taste of the local flavours head to Lilienblum Street.

14 New York

New York has a lot to offer to the hungry traveler in food, sightseeing, nightlife and urban culture. Because you would need a lot of time to explore the Big Apple, you need to first pick one area of the city and then decide what to do in the concrete jungle.

15 Las Vegas

There is more to Las Vegas than the crazy parties, but if you scavenge the internet you can find a lot of interesting things to do in Vegas, apart from drinking and gambling.

16 New Orleans

The native city of jazz is famous for its elusive dark side games, but the spirit of the city is richer. The French Quarter has a lot to offer when it comes to entertainment, while the entire New Orleans is the perfect destination for gourmands.

17 Rio de Janeiro

Brazilians are known for their parties, which is good news for a 20something traveler, but the real entertainment comes from dancing. Pick up a cocktail and head to the beach to practice your samba moves.

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18 Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires also has a passion for dancing, but this time is all about tango. Between two dance demonstrations you can enjoy the rich architecture and the contrasting locals. The city is nicknamed the South American Paris because its citizens are a mix of hot-blooded Latinos and sophisticated European-like people.

19 Montreal

Montreal is the second largest city where locals speak French and it’s the venue of multiple festivals. The city looks like an old European city and the cuisine is amazing. Montreal is going to amaze you with its creativity, especially if you hang out in one of the stylish cafes.

20 Melbourne

Melbourne is a stylish city, where the modern architecture blends with the Gold-Rush era buildings. It’s dynamic and exciting, being able to reinvent itself to adapt the latest trends and lifestyles.

Why Do I Have Bad Luck? 2 Simple Things to Change Your Destiny

Are you one of those people who are always suffering setbacks? Does little ever seem to go right for you? Do you sometimes feel that the universe is out to get you? Do you wonder:

Why do I have bad luck? Is bad luck real?

A couple of months ago, I met up with an old friend of mine who I hadn’t seen since last year. Over lunch, we talked about all kinds of things, including our careers, relationships and hobbies.

My friend told me his job had become dull and uninteresting to him, and despite applying for promotion – he’d been turned down. His personal life wasn’t great either, as he told me that he’d recently separated from his long-term girlfriend.

When I asked him why things had seemingly gone wrong at home and work, he paused for a moment, and then replied:

“I’m having a run of bad luck.”

I was surprised by his response as I’d never thought of him as someone who thought that luck controlled his life. He always appeared to be someone who knew what he wanted – and went after it with gusto.

He told me he did believe in bad luck because of everything happened to me.

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It was at this point, that I shared my opinion on luck and destiny:

While chance events certainly occur, they are purely random in nature. In other words, good luck and bad luck don’t exist in the way that people believe. And more importantly, even if random negative events do come along, our perspective and reaction can turn them into positive things.

Your luck is no worse—and no better—than anyone else’s. It just feels that way. Better still, there are two simple things you can do which will reverse your feelings of being unlucky and change your luck.

1. Stop believing that what happens in life is out of your control.

Stop believing that what happens in your life is down to the vagaries of luck, destiny, supernatural forces, malevolent other people, or anything else outside yourself.

Psychologists call this “external locus of control.” It’s a kind of fatalism, where people believe that they can do little or nothing personally to change their lives.

Because of this, they either merely hope for the best, focus on trying to change their luck by various kinds of superstition, or submit passively to whatever comes—while complaining that it doesn’t match their hopes.

Most successful people take the opposite view. They have “internal locus of control.” They believe that what happens in their life is nearly all down to them; and that even when chance events occur, what is important is not the event itself, but how you respond to it.

This makes them pro-active, engaged, ready to try new things, and keen to find the means to change whatever in their lives they don’t like.

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They aren’t fatalistic and they don’t blame bad luck for what isn’t right in their world. They look for a way to make things better.

Are they luckier than the others? Of course not.

Luck is random—that’s what chance means—so they are just as likely to suffer setbacks as anyone else.

What’s different is their response. When things go wrong, they quickly look for ways to put them right. They don’t whine, pity themselves, or complain about “bad luck.” They try to learn from what happened to avoid or correct it next time and get on with living their life as best they can. They have this Motivation Engine, which most people lack, to keep them going.

No one is habitually luckier or unluckier than anyone else. It may seem so, over the short term (Random events often come in groups, just as random numbers often lie close together for several instances—which is why gamblers tend to see patterns where none exist).

When you take a longer perspective, random chance is just . . . random. Yet those who feel that they are less lucky, typically pay far more attention to short-term instances of bad luck, convincing themselves of the correctness of their belief.

Your locus of control isn’t genetic. You learned it somehow. If it isn’t working for you, change it.

2. Remember that whatever you pay attention to grows in your mind.

If you focus on what’s going wrong in your life—especially if you see it as “bad luck” you can do nothing about—it will seem blacker and more malevolent.

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In a short time, you’ll become so convinced that everything is against you that you’ll notice more and more instances where this appears to be true. As a result, you will drown yourself in negative energy and almost certainly stop trying, convinced that nothing you can do will improve your prospects.

Not long ago, a reader (I’ll call her Kelly) has shared with me about how frustrated she felt and how unlucky she was. Kelly’s an aspiring entrepreneur. She had been trying to find investors to invest in her project. It hadn’t been going well as she was always rejected by the potential investors. And at her most stressful time, her boyfriend broke up with her. And the day after her breakup, she missed an important opportunity to meet an interested investor. She was about to give up because she felt that she’d not be lucky enough to build her business successfully.

It definitely wasn’t an easy time for her. She was stressful and tired. But it wasn’t bad luck that was playing the role.

Fatalism feeds on itself until people become passive “victims” of life’s blows. The “losers” in life are those who are convinced they will fail before they start anything; sure that their “bad luck” will ruin any prospects of success.

They rarely notice that the true reasons for their failure are ignorance, laziness, lack of skill, lack of forethought, or just plain foolishness—all of which they could do something to correct, if only they would stop blaming other people or “bad luck” for their personal deficiencies.

I explained to Kelly that to improve her fortune and have “good luck”, first decide that what happens is nearly always down to her; then try to focus on what works and what turns out well, not the bad stuff.

Then Kelly tried to review her current situation objectively. She realized that she only needed a short break for herself — from work and her just broken-up relationship. She really needed some time to clear up her mind before moving on with her work and life. When she got her emotions settled down from her heartbreak, she started to work on improving her business’ selling points and looked for new investors that are more suitable.

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A few months later, she told me that she finally found two investors who were really interested in her project and would like to work with her to grow the business. I was really glad that she could take back control of her destiny and achieved what she wanted.

Your “fate” really does depend on the choices that you make. When random events happen, as they always will, do you choose to try to turn them to your advantage or just complain about them?

What’s Next?

Now that you’ve learned the 2 simple things you can do to take control of your fate and create your own luck. But this isn’t it! These simple techniques you’ve learned here are just part of the essential 7 Cornerstone Skills — a skillset that will give you the power to create permanent solutions to big problems in life — any problem in any area of your life!

If you think you’re “suffering from bad luck”, you can really change things up and start life over with these 7 Cornerstone Skills. It may even be a lot easier than you thought: